10 ways to improve your quizzing skills

There have several instances and so many stuff written about why you should start quizzing. I think it is time you know about what makes you a good quizzer and how you can climb the ladder. Newbies jump aboard!

1. “Practice makes a man perfect.” : This is the very dharma, the daily ritual of a quizzer. You need to practice till you drop. You may stumble. You may stutter. But do not, ever, give up!

2. Listen to music and don’t just form a favourite and keep that in loop. Add variety to your choices, your playlist should have music starting from AC/DC, Nirvana, Guns n’ Roses to Ellie Goulding, Avril Lavigne, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, including Green Day, Oasis, Poets of the Fall…. Phew! The list is endless. Cultivate a taste for variety.

3. Watch television series. Even the most obscure ones. Of different languages, of different culture, even the ones belonging to Chaplin era!

4. Play and follow games religiously. Without missing a single shot, a single goal, a single run. Know more about the players than them themselves. Know more about the games, its rules, its famous moments, its origin, everything! Jot them down where you can revisit them and re-live them! Commit them to your memory.

5. Now comes the biggest one: Read! Cultivate the habit of reading: starting from your textbooks, novels, non-fictions to the very fine prints you get from the covers from the chanawala or jhalmuriwala. Read even the covers of the shampoo and soap and food packets and screen guard packets. If don’t like eBooks (like me), borrow them from friends or better buy them (I do). Here also, develop a taste for variety. This variety ensures that you get to see the world in different perspective. Jot down the points that touched you and remember them!

6. Be passionate and don’t give up. You may fail the first time, but you got to learn something in that experience, didn’t you? You learnt so many things from your fellow contestant. This knowledge accumulates. You a lot from your failures. You might have experienced: the harder you fall, the less likely you will forget.

7. Be critical: ask questions. Hone your curiosity, to a point even Google will get tired! (If that is even possible). Don’t be shy. If don’t know something, then ask. There are lots of awesome people out there who are ready to help you and answer your queries.

8. Travel: to different places, chronicle them, click photos, and preserve them. Meet people, talk to them, know their customs and traditions, know their political and economic conditions. Know their food and festivals and if possible participate. (Remember Kabir from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani?)

9. Make lots and lots of friends. Word of mouth is one of the fastest methods of propagating a message. So, is learning a lot of stuff. Talking to people gives a very good understand of their point of view. It also gives opportunity to expand your horizon of thinking.

10. Play with people around the world. Use the ubiquitous internet to connect with them. Quiz with everyone who is online and is willing to play. Join Battle of Minds today, and discover that fire of quizzing within you. And as Joker said it: “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.